Neverwhere

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What kinds of setting, characters, imagery, and storylines do you expect from the traditional fantasy genre? What examples from popular fiction fit into this genre? How might calling something “modern” fantasy change these familiar tropes? What examples from popular culture do you consider belonging to this genre? Finally, consider the subgenre “urban fantasy.” What changes do you expect in story elements, and what examples from popular culture might belong here?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may benefit from graphic organizers such as a Venn diagram or a three-column chart for brainstorming and notetaking on this topic. Completion in small groups with subsequent sharing or a whole-class discussion format may suit the prompt. To increase engagement, consider charting each subgenre’s characteristics as a group and then suggesting examples that might fit more than one category: “Would the movies Coraline or Howl’s Moving Castle be considered modern or urban fantasy?” or “Would superhero movies count as fantasy?”

• This article describes the urban fantasy genre and introduces the genre’s history and potential concerns.